Things seemed to get a little heated between the two former Duke teammates.
In many ways, the Celtics-Bucks second-round series was something of a coming-of-age for Jayson Tatum.
Sure, there’ll never be a shortage of storylines in a matchup between the defending NBA champion Bucks and a stellar Boston squad (-5 favorites coming in). Even still, it’s tough to overshadow a 24-year-old (!) superstar like Tatum coming into his own.
As the Celtics — and their bench — finally pulled away from the Bucks in a 109-81 win, you could tell Tatum was feeling himself. And understandably so. All those competitive juices were flowing.
Tatum was so locked in near the end of the first half that he even appeared to have choice words for his former Duke teammate, Grayson Allen.
Oh, wow. Has someone been watching a little George Carlin in their spare time?
To be fair to Tatum, he was probably reacting in the heat of the moment of a tense Game 7. Sometimes you fight with your friends. It happens. That said, given his history, Allen probably did something to Tatum that would warrant such a response.
Naturally, NBA fans loved Tatum chirping one of the league’s more notorious villains.
Gather enemy intel, and make buckets. A foolproof plan.
The Celtics entered their Game 7 with a ton of pressure
Milwaukee (+5) and Giannis Antetokounmpo were the defending champs. Even with an official superstar evolution from Jayson Tatum, Boston had already lost a tough Game 1 and Game 5 at home. With everything on the line, another defeat in front of a raucous TD Garden crowd would’ve been too much to bear.
Thankfully, the Celtics had Grant Williams on their side — one of the NBA’s top role players. He saved his very best tricks for when the Celtics needed a clutch performance from a bench player.
Like, for example, sneaking into a Bucks’ huddle to see what plans they had for the Celtics’ stifling defense:
Oh, Williams. You sly dog, you. I, for one, also really appreciate Jrue Holiday acknowledging Williams’ presence with only a hip check as Antetokounmpo looks on without blinking.
Williams clearly found out all the Bucks’ blueprints to pull an upset as the Celtics wound up winning a 109-81 laugher. They will play the Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals. Given his sneakiness, that Williams chipped in a timely 27 points with seven threes might not be a coincidence.
Then again, Williams’ intrusion is probably what it feels like to play against the Celtics. Every time you think you have a moment to relax and catch your breath, one of their players is almost literally breathing down your neck. Watch out, Miami.
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Jaylen Brown broke Grayson Allen’s ankles early in Game 2. Re-watch the epic moment.
Jaylen Brown was positively cooking in Game 2 of the Boston Celtics’ second-round tilt against the Milwaukee Bucks. He scored 25 points alone in the first half and was an efficient 11-18 from the field. After a forgettable Game 1, Brown was the tail that wagged the dog for the Celtics on Tuesday.
At 6’6″ and 220 lbs, Brown is built more like a traditional small forward or wing, especially with his 7’0″ wingspan. That said, he’s got himself a neat little bag of tricks when it comes to breaking down a defender. Just ask Grayson Allen. Late in the first quarter, Jaylen sized up the former Duke Blue Devil, with the action starting almost at the logo.
Six dribbles later Allen was on his rear and Brown pulled up for an easy two points. In case you missed it, check out Jaylen Brown’s ankle-snatching move here:
In their first game in the wake of Khris Middleton’s injury, the Bucks bludgeoned the Bulls, 111-81, to steal back homecourt advantage.
The Chicago Bulls (1-1) and Milwaukee Bucks (1-1) traveled to the Windy City for Game 3 of their first-round series. A win for the Bulls would give them a 2-1 series lead with a chance to put Milwaukee against the wall with a home victory in Game 4. A victory for the Bucks would steal back their homecourt advantage in the series. In their first game in the wake of Khris Middleton’s injury, the Bucks bludgeoned the Bulls, 111-81, to steal back homecourt advantage.
Nikola Vucevic led the Bulls with 19 points. He also secured 6 rebounds. Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan combined for 26 points on 10-for-22 shooting to go along with 10 rebounds and 9 assists.
Grayson Allen led the Bucks in scoring with 22 points on 8-for-12 shooting; he shot 5-for-7 from beyond the arc.
You can go ahead and stop saying “appears to” already. He certainly did it…
Grayson Allen is a dirty basketball player and has been for quite some time. He loves to trip opponents and take them out, all in the spirit of “competition” or so they say.
Grayson Allen has done some appalling things on a basketball court but even he had to have been shaking his head at what Syracuse’s leading scorer Buddy Boeheim did in the Orange’s blowout victory over Florida State on Wednesday.
Boeheim was not called for a foul after he swung his hand into Florida State’s Wyatt Wilkes midsection as he turned to run back to the defensive end, following a made jump shot by Syracuse. No foul was called on the play.
See the video below.
I’ve read a good amount of articles and seen plenty of tweets about this across the internet. To anyone out there who might be writing about this please do everyone a favor and stop saying Boeheim “appears to punch” an opponent.
He does it, it doesn’t just look like he does it, he flat out does it. Did Woody Hayes “appear to punch” the Clemson player when the legendary Ohio State coach was ultimately fired? You’re safe saying Hayes punched that player and you’re safe saying Boeheim did the same.
Boeheim, a senior and the son of legendary Syracuse head coach Jim, has played 120 games for the Orange in his four seasons. Assuming Syracuse has any sense about themselves they’ll do the right thing and not have him in uniform again for this ridiculousness.
Pat had a good week on the court, even with his team wrapped up in a controversy with one of its players.
It’s fair to say Pat Connaughton has recovered from his brief time sidelined while being in the NBA’s health and safety protocols. This past week was when he finally decided he was well enough to make up for lost time. There’s no doubt the Milwaukee Bucks are happy to have this version of him back.
The Bucks’ lone loss of the week came Jan. 17 at the Atlanta Hawks. Connaghton scored 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting, including four 3-pointers, for his first double-digit scoring game of the month. He also grabbed six rebounds.
The Bucks returned Jan. 19 against the Memphis Grizzlies, during which Connaughton shot 5 of 9 to score 13 points and had four rebounds. He took a step back Jan. 21 against the Chicago Bulls when he missed all five field-goal attempts and only got in the scoring column because of two free throws. He also was on the court when teammate Grayson Allen earned a suspension for showing he still makes dirty plays like he did at Duke. The next night, Connaughton started against the Sacramento Kings and made the most of it with 15 points and four steals.
For the week, Connaughton averaged 11.0 points and 4.3 rebounds a game while shooting 50 percent from the field. Even if his team is embroiled in controversy right now, he clearly isn’t letting it affect him. Hopefully, his play on the court will continue to make Notre Dame fans proud.
Grayson Allen was up to his usual dirty tricks against the Bulls, and given his history, it’s fair to wonder how the man is still a professional basketball player.
Picture this: It’s a cool and calm Friday night. The Bulls and Bucks are duking it out in what might be the start of a fun rivalry. Sneakers are squeaking against the hardwood floor, there’s basketball being played, and all is right with the world. That is, basketball was on your mind until a fight, per se, broke out.
In the first of four matchups, the Bucks may have beaten the Bulls, but the game’s outcome was hardly the main story. That’s because Milwaukee’s infamous bottom-of-the-bench mainstay Grayson Allen just had to make himself a presence (in an awful way) and couldn’t help himself.
After making a career of “savvy” sleights of hands (and feet) in college at Duke, Milwaukee’s glorified eighth man was up to his usual tricks against Chicago and top sixth man, Alex Caruso.
Following the play, officials ejected Allen, and Caruso was not only able to finish the game, but OK.
Or not.
Injury Update: Alex Caruso will undergo surgery early next week and be re-evaluated in 6-8 weeks after sustaining a fracture of his right wrist in last night’s game versus the Milwaukee Bucks.
Not only is it a massive blow to a Bulls squad who already leans on Caruso’s versatility on both ends of the court, but it’s also another instance where Allen, quite clearly, couldn’t make a regular basketball play.
A moderate shove? Sure. Making a point to wrap up Caruso safely before he jumps into the air? Yes. Clotheslining a guy and slamming him to the ground? Come on; it’s not 1988 anymore. Bill Laimbeer and Dennis Rodman, and I mean this with no disrespect (sort of), would be dinosaurs in an era of the game that, you know, focuses on playing the game first, and hurting the opponent never.
Their modern protege didn’t even bother apologizing for his dangerous antics.
Alex Caruso, asked if Grayson Allen came over to check on him after taking him out: “No.”
Unfortunately, the slam and throw of Caruso is par for the course for Allen.
(Mind you: This may be an incomplete resume of “non-basketball” plays. And what a euphemism that word is.)
First, there was that mentioned rap sheet at Duke.
As if everyone didn’t already loathe the Blue Devils to their core, Allen stood out amongst the pack.
Then, during his second season with the Memphis Grizzlies in 2019, he took back-to-back flagrant fouls and was ejected from a Summer League game against the Celtics. You read that right. Officials threw Allen out of a preseason men’s professional basketball game, otherwise known as glorified practice.
Finally, earlier this season, he tried to trip the Knicks’ Derrick Rose on a straight-line driver rather than square his feet and play defense like a well-adjusted person.
You thought I was joking that Grayson Allen tried to trip him. Look at that sly right foot at the end pic.twitter.com/qk7bzy1g1V
With all of this history in mind, in addition to his takedown of Caruso, it’s unfathomable how Allen remains in the league. When he was a kid, he had to be that one teammate taking warmups far too seriously before eventually giving one of his (former) friends a bloody nose while wondering why no one likes him. (Man, please relax. There’s still a game to be played, and Johnny’s starting tonight!)
It’s unclear how the Bucks feel about their eighth man in private, but the rest of the basketball world would rather see this boxer-turned-ball player hang up the laces for good.
The timetable for Caruso’s return is still unclear.
It’s looking like Chicago Bulls guard Alex Caruso‘s return to the team will be a short one, with the hard foul given by Milwaukee Bucks guard Grayson Allen that resulted in a scary fall for the Texas A&M product in Friday’s 94 – 90 loss to the defending NBA champions having resulted in a fractured wrist for Caruso according to ESPN senior writer Adrian Wojnarowski.
The College Station native will likely miss surgery from the results of Allen’s flagrant foul, which Wojnarowski reports the Bulls’ front office as having “expressed public and private outrage” over the Bucks guard’s actions. Allen has a long history of questionable play predating his time in the league.
ESPN’s Jamal Collier relates head coach Billy Donovan calling for harsher penalties from the league for the play in reference to that history in a recent article detailing the incident.
Chicago Bulls guard Alex Caruso has suffered a fractured right wrist and will likely need surgery, sources tell ESPN. The injury occurred after a fall following a flagrant foul from Milwaukee’s Grayson Allen on Friday night.
“For Alex to be in the air and for (Allen) to take him down like that, he could’ve ended his career,” Donovan suggested.
“He has a history of this. That to me was really — it was really dangerous. I hope the league takes a hard look at something like that because that could have really, really seriously hurt him.”
Stay tuned to Lonzo Wire for updates on the timetable for Caruso’s return.
Caruso came crashing down to the floor hard after Allen swiped at his body sideways in the air.
Some things just never change.
That includes Milwaukee Bucks guard Grayson Allen making questionable, dirty plays on the basketball court.
In Friday night’s loss to the defending champs, Alex Caruso was rim-running on a fast break and as he got passed the ball to attempt a lay-up, Allen jumped up and hit Caruso’s arms but followed the first hit with swiping down at Caruso’s limbs with his left arm, shifting Caruso’s body horizontal in the air and landing hard on the surface.
Grayson Allen was up to his usual tricks against the Bulls.
On Friday evening, the Bulls (+3.5) and Bucks (-3.5) were caught in the muck together in Milwaukee. A key NBA East battle saw both teams shoot well under 40 percent, with neither sitting at 50 points by halftime. If division rivalry meant anything in the NBA (it doesn’t), one would think the familiarity between Chicago and Milwaukee played a part in the griminess. Never mind watching bright stars like Giannis Antetokounmpo and DeMar DeRozan: This was a defensive slog (a euphemism for poor offense), and someone was going to have to crawl out of the woodwork.
Speaking of griminess and crawling out of the woodwork, Grayson Allen happens to play for the Bucks these days. After a career of grit (underhanded dirty plays) with Duke that gave Allen a well-earned mark of notoriety, he’s still plugging away these days in the NBA. Huh, who would have thought that would translate to the professional level?
And boy, did Allen have something to say, or rather, due to Chicago’s Alex Caruso in the late third quarter of Friday’s marquee matchup.
Oh, gee, Grayson Allen threw down an opponent mid-air with reckless abandon and no concern for his safety? I’m going to have to sit down. You’re telling me that Grayson Allen, a model citizen and young man, cares not for following an inherent social contract where you shouldn’t intentionally hurt other players? Someone get me a paper bag.
Allen would get a Flagrant II foul on the play. Then, officials ejected him from the contest to raucous applause (mainly from NBA Twitter). In the coming days, one would have to think that given the officials seeing obvious intent and ruling accordingly, a short suspension, or at least, fine, might be coming down the pipe for Allen. To add insult to injury, the Bucks wound up winning and Allen had the last laugh (if he’s capable of chuckling).
In a more significant update: Only days since he made his official return to the Bulls, Caruso was thankfully OK.
If he’s making plays like that on Giannis, yeah, he’s probably alright.
All that aside, rather than take a good hard foul (at most) on a player in transition, Allen, to no one’s surprise, couldn’t keep his cool and couldn’t help himself. In other news, water is wet, and it can get really cold in a Milwaukee winter.
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